1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improvement to a coating apparatus in which, so that any of a plurality of coating modes can be selected, a plurality of coating assemblies corresponding to different coating modes can be installed interchangeably.
2. Prior Art
An example of a conventional coating apparatus with which any of a plurality of coating modes can be selected is described in xe2x80x9cCoating and Laminating Machinexe2x80x9d, published by the Process Technology Research AssociationLtd. This coating apparatus, as shown in FIG. 14, is made up of a fixed unit 1, which is fixed at a coating station, and a plurality of module units 2, 3 which can be brought to a predetermined position in the fixed unit 1.
The fixed unit 1 has a support frame 4, guide rollers 5, 5 mounted on the support frame 4, and backup rollers 6 mounted vertically movably on the support frame 4.
The module unit 2 has a mobile frame 7, a gravure roller 8 mounted on the mobile frame 7, and accessory tools such as a doctor 9 mounted on the mobile frame 7, and is equipped for gravure coating. The module unit 3 has a mobile frame 10, a coating roller 11 and a metering roller 12 mounted on the mobile frame 10, and accessory tools such as a gap adjuster 13 provided between the moving frame 10 and the metering roller 12, and is equipped for reverse roll coating. Modules corresponding to other coating modes besides these (for example knife coating, die coating and so on) are also provided, and where necessary each module has a gap adjuster.
However, because the module unit 2 (or 3) has a large mobile frame 7 (or 10), a large space is required to store it, and because its overall weight is heavy it is difficult to handle. And, because the module unit 2 (or 3) will use some parts and accessories which are common to all module units, such as bearings and gap adjusters and so on, there is duplication of parts and accessories among the module units as a whole and consequently their overall manufacturing cost is high.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a coating apparatus having compact coating assembly modules which require less storage space and are easier to handle and which through the common use of parts and accessory tools provide a reduced manufacturing cost of the apparatus as a whole.
To reduce numbers of parts and make coating assemblies more compact by promoting the common use of parts, the invention provides a coating apparatus, wherein a plurality of coating assemblies can be interchangeably installed to a support frame, comprising: a support frame; two bearing cases mounted on the support frame; and a coating assembly which rotates during coating and a coating assembly which does not rotate during coating, the coating assemblies each having two shaft parts which can be removably set in the bearing cases, wherein the shaft parts of the coating assembly which rotates can be set in the bearing cases rotatably and the shaft parts of the coating assembly which does not rotate can be anchored to a fixed part so that they cannot rotate when set in the bearing cases.
Interchanging of the coating assemblies can be carried out by the shaft parts of the coating assemblies being set in and removed from the two bearing cases. Also, as a result of the coating assemblies using bearing cases mounted on the support frame commonly, it becomes unnecessary for each of the coating assemblies to have bearing cases or mounting assemblies, and the coating assemblies can be made more compact and lighter in weight.
To make it possible for fixing of a coating assembly which does not rotate during coating to be effected surely and to enable the angular position of such a coating assembly to be adjusted when coating is not in progress, preferably the coating assembly which does not rotate has a fixing assembly which can be fitted and tightened on one of the shaft parts of that coating assembly and anchored to a fixed part of one of the bearing cases so that when the fixing assembly is tightened, the coating assembly cannot rotate and when the fixing assembly is not tightened, the angular position of that coating assembly can be adjusted.
In this case, because a shaft part of the coating assembly is anchored to a fixed part of a bearing case by a tightened fixing assembly, the coating assembly can be kept firmly fixed during coating and the coating assembly can rotationally adjusted by the fixing assembly being loosened.
To make it possible for interchanging of coating assemblies to be carried out quickly, preferably, the bearing cases each have a bearing cradle part mounted on the support frame and a bearing cover part separably joined to the bearing cradle part; and the shaft parts of either of the coating assemblies can be held by the bearing cradle part and the bearing cover part in their joined state.
In this case, the shaft parts of either of the coating assemblies can be held in the bearing cases by the bearing cradle parts and the bearing cover parts being joined, and the shaft parts of the coating assembly can be removed from the bearing cases by the bearing cover parts being separated from the bearing cradle parts.
To make it possible to mount to the bearing cases a coating assembly not having shaft parts, preferably, the apparatus further comprises another coating assembly which does not rotate during coating, and this coating assembly has mounting parts which can be removably fixed to the bearing cradle parts.
In this case, it is possible to mount the coating assembly to the bearing cases by fixing the mounting parts of the coating assembly to the bearing cradle parts with the bearing cover parts removed.
To commonize the sliding mechanisms, the bearing cases are preferably mounted on sliders provided slidably back and forth on the support frame.
In this case, because mechanisms for allowing the bearing cases to slide are provided on the support frame side, sliding adjustment of the coating assembly mounted on the bearing cases can be carried out using these mechanisms and it is not necessary for sliding mechanisms to be provided on the coating assemblies.
To reduce the number of parts and make the coating assemblies more compact by promoting the common use of parts, the invention also provides another coating apparatus, wherein a plurality of coating assemblies can be interchangeably installed to a support frame, comprising: a support frame; a slider provided on the support frame so as to be able to advance and retreat; a gap adjuster for adjusting a stopping position of the slider; and a plurality of coating assemblies each having a frame which can be removably fixed to the slider.
Interchanging of the coating assemblies can be carried out by the frames of the coating assemblies being fixed to the slider provided on the support frame. Also, as a result of the coating assemblies using the slider and the gap adjuster commonly, it becomes unnecessary for the coating assemblies to be provided with sliders and gap adjusters, and the coating assemblies can be made lighter.